Rachel struggled to keep herself awake on this Thursday morning. It was 7:00 am a little bit before she had to leave to go to school. She was stressed, anxious, and worried about Tommy and where he was. Rachel and Manny tried calling and texting multiple times, but nothing was ever successful. She lost sleep due to the amount of anxiety she had thinking about every possibility. As Rachel finished getting ready she heard the door open and listened to the footsteps coming up the stairs. She already knew it was Manny. Manny never knocked anymore, she just made his way throughout the house whenever he wanted. Nobody cared though, she liked how close he was to her and her mom.
"Heard anything?" She asked as she approached him with her arms open wide. He shook his head.
"No" He responded. She shrugged her shoulders and gave Manny a long hug. He kissed her head like usual and sat down on her bed with her for the remainder of the time they had before they had to walk to school.
"What do you think happened?" Manny asked as he played with her hair.
"I have no clue," She said in response. Manny placed his hand on her face and stroked her cheek, calming her nerves. She loved it when he would do that, it's the one thing that really helps her relax. Finally, it was time to go to school and Rachel was really not feeling it. She was hoping she would see Tommy there. Manny and Rachel walked downstairs and said goodbye to Andrea as they opened the door exiting the house. They walked down the street hand in hand like they always did, although this morning was strange, that was one of the things that would never change. Seeing the school always flipped Rachel's stomach, but today it was harder than usual to walk up the stairs to the entrance of the building. Rachel could tell by Manny's eyes that he was upset as well, he was hoping to find Tommy somewhere just like Rachel hoped. They walked upstairs to Rachel's locker, talking for a while until the bell rang.
"I love you," Rachel said as she hugged him tightly.
"I love you more," Manny said as he kissed her gently. Manny knew his way around Rachel's heart, knowing exactly what gave her butterflies. Rachel smiled, letting go of him and watching him walk down the hallway. She sighed and walked into class, scanning the room quickly. Rachel saw Emma in her seat, getting her things ready for class to begin. Rachel only cared if Tommy was there, and he wasn't. Rachel walked to her seat and sat down, putting her bag onto the floor. This was the first time Emma and Rachel had seen each other since the whole argument went down. It was after spring break, and nobody wanted to be in class. Rachel took out her notebook and some of her pens and began doodling, not even caring about the equation on the board. As she draws random things on her page, she notices a small piece of paper folded onto her desk. She takes it and reads what it says.
"How have you been?" Rachel rolled her eyes and crumbled up the note. It was from Emma, and Rachel wanted nothing to do with her. The class was so blurry that day, Rachel could barely contain herself nor her thoughts from spiraling out of control. Class ended shortly after and Rachel grabbed her things and hurried down the hallway looking for Manny.
"Babe he's not here" she laid her head into his chest. He put his hand on her head, caressing her softly. Both of them carried on with their school day, struggling to make it. Rachel was eager to see Tommy, more eager than ever before.
She tried to not think the worst but each time she thought about Tommy, all she could think about was negativity. Once the final bell rang, Rachel and Manny met outside and instantly began running down the street to Tommy's house. The breeze hit Rachel and blew her hair in her face, she hated that feeling but nothing could stop her from running. They finally see his house from a distance, Rachel begins to slow down and so does Manny. Manny was a bit behind her so he took a few seconds to catch up.
"Let's go," She said as she signaled Manny to come up to Tommy's front door. Her nerves were jumping like crazy. There was no car in the driveway, Rachel looked around and just opened the door. She ran upstairs and looked around. Thank god his parents weren't home. She knew she was breaking the law, but she had to do it, just this one time.
She stood in the middle of a hallway with 3 doors. Rachel and Manny looked at each other.
"Pick a door," He said with a smile. Rachel walked to the door right in front of her and Manny chose the door to the left. Rachel put her hand on the cold gold doorknob and slowly turned it to the right
"Tommy?" The door slowly opened and she found Tommy sitting there on the floor facing the window. She didn't know what to think. She ran up to him and dropped to the floor, staring into his blue ocean eyes.
"I'm sorry Rachel...I love you more than I could have ever imagined" She sat on the floor watching him slowly fade away. Blood was everywhere. The cuts were so deep that they made her gag. She stared at the blood, tears forming in her eyes. She felt everything but numb. She was watching her best friend die.
"MANNY" She yelled. She put her hand on his face, stroking his cheek just to touch him for the last time.
"No Tommy come on I need you" She whimpered as he took one last breath. She cried into her hands. Tears came rolling down her face, more like a waterfall than anything. Manny wiped his tears from his eyes and he watched Rachel caress his pale skin. Manny had no words, he felt so sorry for Rachel. He always had felt sorry for her. Rachel stood up from the floor. Manny put his arm around her and walked her out of the house. Rachel and Manny sat down on the steps of his front porch and called 911. Rachel laid her head into her hands, wiping her face. Manny hated seeing her like that, but for the first time, he felt similar.
Rachel felt nothing but pain. Her heart was racing, and words could barely escape her mouth. Manny did all of the talking to the operator. They waited and waited and time never felt so slow. Rachel dialed Tommy's mom's phone number and placed the phone to her ear.
"Rachel? What's going on?" His mom asked in confusion.
"T-T-Tommy is..dead" She was barely able to get the words out of her mouth as her heavy breaths cut in. Manny put his hand on her leg, feeling her shake. He could hear his mom crying over the phone. Rachel hung up the phone and placed it next to the gap between her and Manny,
It all made sense to them now, the ignoring and avoidance all finally made sense.